The squeeze also pumps tax dollars into local, state and federal governments for transportation projects.
Florida has one of the highest overall gas tax rates in the nation. In addition to the federal government s tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, the state of Florida has another 26.5 cents per gallon controlled by state law. Finally, local governments can add up to 12 cents for a grand total of 56.9 cents in taxes for each gallon.
The city of Jacksonville uses half of the 12 cents it can levy with the local option gas tax. A proposal to double that tax from 6 cents per gallon to 12 cents has put the gas tax in the spotlight at City Hall where City Council will vote in the coming weeks on the Jobs for Jax program of $930 million in transportation projects submitted by Mayor Lenny Curry and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
COMMENTARY | Jacksonville is staring down the barrel of a lost decade: 10 years of squandered possibilities in downtown; another generation gone by without atoning for the city s original sin failing to provide basic infrastructure, like drinkable water, to every neighborhood; time running out, time running short, time running thin.
And to watch any one of the many dreary, endless Jacksonville City Council meetings these days is to understand, in the grainy clarity of public-access TV, why the city has reached this breaking point: A maddening vortex of cowardice, infighting, incompetence, egos, and transactional behavior. They are sinking us all.
At this late hour the city has a mayor, Lenny Curry, who is, yes, flawed, and who has, yes, generated some well-earned skepticism of his administration along the way. But he is also a mayor who is at this moment interested in pumping $1 billion back into the city, most of which will go toward long-needed road projects and some
Letters from readers: Zanele Muholi exhibit at the Cummer
Letters from readers
Zanele Muholi exhibit at the Cummer
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens recently debuted Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness, an internationally touring exhibition organized by Autograph, London and curated by Renée Mussai. The exhibition features more than 80 self-portraits by Muholi: a world-renowned photographer and visual activist whose work addresses race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice.
The exhibition’s arrival is especially timely, as these themes are at the forefront of local, national, and global conversations. We, as members of the exhibition host committee, invite all of our neighbors to come take a moment and engage with this stunning exhibition through June 20.
Two Jacksonville City Council members said Thursday it would be best for voters to make the call on whether to raise the local gas tax by putting that choice on the ballot in a countywide referendum.
Council members Aaron Bowman and LeAnna Cumber said they would support having the referendum, marking the first time any council members have said that should be the route for a decision. I can honestly tell you I ve gotten zero emails or calls supporting this initiative and I ve gotten hundreds saying Please don t do this to me, Bowman said during a special meeting.
Some other council members spoke in favor increasing the gas tax during the meeting devoted to the Jobs for Jax proposal put forward by Mayor Lenny Curry and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority for doing $930 million of road, drainage and transit projects.